From: "H.L.Hu"
Newsgroups: rec.games.go
Subject: China News: Ma Xiaochun's goal in 1999
Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1999 02:25:53 -0800
Upon getting his final position in the inaugurating QiSheng
tournament, Ma Xiaochun set his goals for 1999: get at least one
world Championship, and become the first China Qisheng.
"I will not participate many contests from now on." Ma said.
He will limit the number of tournaments he will take part in,
'fewer and better', following the suit of Fijisawa Shuko.
The first chance for Ma to have a world Championship is the
Samsung World Pro Championship in early Februrary, following
it is the LG Cup. In both contests, his opponent will be Lee
Changho of Korea.
"My ten straight losses against Lee in the past disappointed
Weiqi fans. Now that I won the first game in Samsung finals,
I see hope ahead. I will do my best to seize the chance. " Ma
says, "speaking of the varieties of Weiqi, I know better than
Lee. I also know more techniques than he. But Lee makes few
mistakes. He is waiting for me to make mistakes. If I do not
make mistakes, it will be very hard for him to beat me."
Both Samsung and LG Cup finals are 'best-of-five' matches. There
are 9 games left. Ma Xiaochun is very confident to win. In high
level competitions like this, players are normally reluctant to
play 'relentlessly'. The risk rises if one attacks relentless
first. Ma certainly knows this very well.
It seems that there was a turn in his luck after his car
accident. His goal also becomes grander. After he won the
QiSheng semi-final, he said that his first goal would be
realized before the Chinese New Year (H.L.Hu: this year's
Chinese New Year is on Feb. 16). The QiSheng finals will be
a best-of-seven match. Ma is happy to have a young opponent:
"now, among us 'old' players only I have a chance against the
'scouts'. I will fight for the honor of 'old' players. " Ma said
that Chang Hao couldn't beat him 4:0, but "it is not impossible"
that he would beat Chang Hao 4:0.
--- *** ---